Trusting
by Starkreactor
Summary: Grace needs a little more convincing than the Doctor thought to believe he is what he says he is. Will she be willing to trust her senses and open her eyes to the world he is trying to show her? Or will she recoil into her human life? Grace/8, one shot


So I was wiki-ing the Doctor today, er, yesterday.....(It's five in the morning, I'm being an idiot for the weekend, give me a break) And I came across some stuff about the Doctor Who movie featuring the eighth Doctor. Now, having started my Who-obsession with Tennant, he is 'my doctor', and at first I was very stubborn about what episodes and what actors I watched. Well, now I've seen a bit of Nine, a bit of Five, a bit of Three, recently a bit of Eight, and of course pretty much all of Ten and as much of Eleven as I can find. I've discovered that so far Ten AND Eight are my favorites. That being said, I found the movie on youtube and watched it through, quite happily. Then plot bunnies came and feasted.

You know the rest.

Enjoy!

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"He even took the sofa!" Grace threw her hands up in frustration, trying to remind herself that she had a patient with her. Now was NOT the time to be loosing her temper over Bryan.

Heading up the stairs to her kitchen, Grace beckoned for her probably insane companion to join her, setting him down resolutely in a chair across from her.

Compliantly, he opened his shirt, allowing her to place the bell of her stethoscope to his bare chest.

Finding it increasingly easy to forget Bryan around this strange man, Grace listened with a fascinated concern to the rapid heartbeat under her fingers. "You're still fibrillating badly." She said, never for a moment consciously doubting her medical diagnosis, even though the man should be passed out and headed into cardiac arrest at the rate his heart was pulsing.

"No I'm not." He disagreed calmly, as though he was far more aware of the inner workings of his body than she could possibly be. As though she was a child that needed gentle correction.

His cool eyes locked with hers and he took her hand in his own, his skin cool and smooth to the touch. "Here." He said, settling her hand in what felt like an unnatural position to properly examine the heart, every scrap of her medical training telling her that he was the patient, he was insane, and he didn't know what was best for his own heart. She did.

So why didn't she care?

Listening, she found the rhythmic sound drowned out by his exclamations as he continued to remember things, things she was quite certain he was making up in a fevered mind.

"Shhh!" She chided him sharply, somewhat annoyed that his outburst had interrupted her examination and caused her to jump, his voice amplified through the stethoscope.

He fell quiet, his eyes and attention once again on her, silently observing her unbelieving expression.

"You still don't believe me, do you?" He said quietly, careful not to hurt her ears again.

Avoiding his probing stare, she dropped the bell, moving up to his carotid artery in order to get a feel for his blood pressure.

She didn't expect the pulses to be so strong.

She couldn't understand. His blood pressure was through the roof, and the pace of the beats did not match the pace of his heart.

He should be dead.

Grace shook her head, leaning back in the chair, settling the stethoscope around her neck as she looked up at her patient. "I don't know what to think. You had that wire in your chest, a wire that I used on another patient. Now you have one of the worst cases of arrhythmia that I've ever heard and yet you are calm and show no physical signs of fainting or going into cardiac arrest. You are quiet the mystery to me."

"But you want to know, don't you." It wasn't a question.

Grace looked at him in surprise.

The Doctor leaned forward, his eyes earnest, and yet intimidating, as though he could see everything she was, and everything she would be.

"Trust me Grace. Trust yourself." His hand gently clasped her hesitant fingers, drawing her bare palm up to the left side of his breast. "Trust your senses. What do you feel?"

Grace found herself holding her breath, knowing inexplicably that this moment was the moment of truth. If she chose to trust this stranger, if she left her palm to his guidance, she would never be able to go back. Suddenly a great choice was clear to her, though she didn't know what lay on the other side. The choice was merely to continue hiding in her comfortable world, the world where this man was insane and his x-ray was hoax, or the world she felt sure he governed. The world he was about to unveil.

If she trusted him there would be no going back. There would be no way to deny any longer what she knew she heard.

Under her palm beat a powerful rhythm. The magnificent feeling of life inhabiting a living body. The strong beat of a healthy heart, not one in danger of stopping under the oppressive force of arrhythmia.

And then her hand was moving not of its own accord. And if she didn't pull away now, the decision would be made.

Ever so gently, he rested her hand against the right side of his chest, smoothing his fingers over hers, coaxing her to believe. To trust.

And she did.

Letting herself go, she gasped as the same remarkable feeling met her fingertips, the feeling she had sworn to protect when she became a doctor. The feeling she was always mesmerized by when she was a child. The feeling of the raw power of life, pulsing strongly, protectively nestled deep in his chest.

She felt him inhale deeply, and found herself copying him, not having realized that she was once again holding her breath.

"There we are." He said, a smile in his voice. "That's better, isn't it?"

Her fingers slid from his chest and came to rest in her lap, her gaze following them. There was no turning back now. She had felt the alien double heartbeat of this man, and no matter where her life led now, she _was_ better for it.

* * *

I'll admit it, I have a strange obsession for heartbeats- I don't know why. They fascinate me. So naturally, Timelord heartbeats fascinate me that much more. Reviews are lovely, if you care to!


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